STATE HOUSE ROUNDUP -- Order starts to emerge from the chaos

Monday

Has the Senate been in utter disarray since December? Yeah, pretty much. Has it been a distraction? Senate President Harriette Chandler said last week it hasn't been "helpful."

But has it completely derailed this session's policy objectives? Maybe not.

Visible signs last week pointed to senators -- and let's throw House lawmakers into this equation as well -- chugging along, albeit at a turtle's pace, despite the uncertainty and confusion. It may not be a well-oiled machine, but action in the Legislature is finally starting to heat up.

Criminal justice reform took top billing as the House and Senate polished off what can honestly be dubbed a "sweeping" piece of legislation that eliminates some mandatory drug minimums, reforms the bail system and juvenile justice and cracks down on synthetic opioid traffickers.

It is the type of overhaul that advocates have been seeking for years, but one that has eluded lawmakers under pressure from various constituencies, not the least of which have been the district attorneys, not to take steps that could be marketed as soft on crime.

But not this year. With the district attorneys on board, relatively speaking, the 10-day clock started ticking for Gov. Charlie Baker, who has asked various parts of his administration to review the details and report back.

The governor said he would have "a lot to say" about the bill this week, and it would not be surprising to see Baker delay gratification a little longer and return the bill with some tweaks for the Legislature to consider. On the other hand, Baker may not want to pick policy fights with the very lawmakers who he is counting on to move his agenda over the next three-plus months.

There was great enthusiasm among supportive legislators who voted for the bill on the 50th anniversary of the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

However, nearing the finish line on criminal justice reform doesn't mean the House and Senate still don't have a lot of catching up to do.

The Senate last week approved a short-term rental taxation bill that would extend the state's 5.7 percent lodging tax to all rooms rented through platforms like Airbnb, but it's a far different proposal from the one favored by the House that voted for a three-tiered tax structure with safety regulations enforced at the state level, not just town by town.

The House also passed a $200 million borrowing bill to fund pothole and street repairs in cities and towns that are waiting on that money, and wishing it could be more, to sign contracts so that the work can begin this spring.

The April 1 "deadline" for the Chapter 90 bill has already passed, and the Senate may complicate matters if, as Bonding Committee Chairman Sen. John Keenan wants, they elect to do a multiyear bill instead of just the one year the House funded.

Baker also pointed out last week that his bond bill to finance capital asset improvements in courthouses and college campuses around the state is still awaiting a vote, and while it might still be snowing, the construction season is underway and booking up fast.

But maybe last week was a sign that the pace is ready to pick up.

Chandler began the week by telling reporters that she couldn't say with any certainty that she would, in fact, still be president beyond the next seven days. But by April 5, the Worcester Democrat and presidential placeholder announced that she and Senate President-in-Waiting Karen Spilka had reached a transition agreement, ending weeks of more-awkward-than-artful dodging of the elephant in the East Wing.

Spilka, the two women said, would take the keys to the Pinto the week of July 23. That will allow the Senate to avoid further disruption by having Chandler oversee the final four months of legislating before Spilka gets her vote during the last week of formal sessions before senators scatter to focus on re-election (or retirement, whichever the case may be).

We know one senator who sure is rooting for the re-election of her colleagues -- Spilka.

The transition plan answered the big question of when, but there's still a question of how?

Spilka, of course, will remain on as Ways and Means chair to see the Senate through its budget debate in May, and that will continue to be a perch from which she can hold great sway over the trajectory of most other pieces of legislation.

But if you're a senator looking to push a bill across the finish line, or a lobbyist wondering how to resurrect your priority bill from the scrap heap, who do you call? Chandler or Spilka? Probably both.

With just three weeks until he takes the stage in Worcester at the MassGOP convention, the governor shared a smaller stage -- a platform, really -- with an unlikely backup band.

The governor and the environmental community have not always seen eye-to-eye over the past three years, particularly when it comes to state spending on the environment and natural gas infrastructure. But there they were, representatives of the Sierra Club, Environmental League of Massachusetts and others, backing up the governor's new legislation that would require home energy audits to come with a standardized efficiency score and eventually make those scores part of any real estate transaction.

Baker and Energy Secretary Matthew Beaton hope the concept will add some "velocity" to the state's Mass Save program, which helps homeowners make their houses more energy-efficient, and by doing so cuts into the source of 26 percent of the state's annual greenhouse gas emissions.

The Senate, for what it's worth, has pursued this strategy in the past, only to meet a dead end in the House.

The photo op was good one for Baker to stand with environmentalists and be on the same page, but the real estate community loathes the idea of making home energy efficiency scores part of the home valuation process, warning that it could slow turnover in an already tight real estate market.

Baker also stood with State Police Superintendent Col. Kerry Gilpin last week to try to stop the stream of negative headlines being generated by the law enforcement arm of the state.

Together, Baker and Gilpin announced widespread changes at the State Police that would start with the elimination of Troop E, the unit that polices the Turnpike and was responsible for the alleged bilking of the overtime system.

The governor and colonel are also pursuing a body camera program for State Police and intend to activate a GPS system that will allow the department to track the whereabouts of troopers who are supposed to be on the job.

The union quickly raised some red flags, in particular with regard to body cameras, but for now Baker says that collective bargaining was to be expected and shouldn't derail his attempt to implement the reforms by the end of the year.

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